Taylor Swift and Kanye West. Getty Pictures (2)
‘Trigger child we’ve all the time obtained dangerous blood in terms of Taylor Swift and Kanye West.
The duo’s decades-long feud first started in 2009, when West shockingly ambushed Swift as she was receiving the award for Finest Feminine Video throughout the MTV Video Music Awards. As she started her acceptance speech for “You Belong With Me,” West stormed the stage to seize the microphone, claiming that Beyoncé ought to have received for “Single Women” which he referred to as “among the finest music movies of all time.”
Whereas West stole Swift’s massive second, Beyoncé rapidly tried to proper the fallacious by letting Swift give her speech when “Single Women” received later within the evening for Video of the 12 months.
Within the weeks following the ceremony, West acquired huge backlash for his actions, for which he subsequently apologized. In return, Swift wrote the tune “Harmless” for her 2010 album, Communicate Now. in honor of West, providing him forgiveness.
Whereas all was peaceable for a couple of years — Swift even introduced West with the Video Vanguard Award on the 2015 VMAs — issues took a flip when West dropped The Lifetime of Pablo in 2016. On the monitor “Well-known,” the rapper referred to as Swift a “bitch” who he “made well-known.” He later claimed through X that he had an “hour lengthy convo with [Swift] in regards to the line and he or she thought it was humorous and gave her blessings.” (It will later be revealed that in their cellphone name, Swift solely accepted the road “I really feel like Taylor and I would nonetheless have intercourse.”)
Nonetheless, Swift denied that the dialog occurred that manner, claiming that West by no means adopted up on guarantees to ship her the entire monitor. This prompted West’s then-wife, Kim Kardashian, to launch a video of West and Swift on the cellphone discussing the tune and dubbing Swift a “snake.” Swift broke her silence on the scenario days later as she accepted the Grammy Award for Album of the 12 months for 1989.
“I need to say to all of the younger girls on the market: There are going to be individuals alongside the best way who will attempt to undercut your success or take credit score in your accomplishments or your fame,” she mentioned on the time. “However in the event you simply concentrate on the work and also you don’t let these individuals sidetrack you, sometime while you get the place you’re going, you’ll go searching and you’ll know that it was you and the individuals who love you who put you there. And that would be the biggest feeling on this planet.”
Backlash in opposition to Swift continued, inflicting the pop star to primarily disappear for a 12 months earlier than returning together with her 2017 album Status, which devoted a number of songs to the continuing feud. A full size model of her cellphone name with West was later launched, revealing that Swift had, in reality, by no means been instructed in regards to the rapper’s plan to name her a “bitch” who he made well-known.
Whereas the duo laid off referencing one another of their music for a couple of years, they each seemingly returned to the drama for his or her 2024 information, Swift’s The Tortured Poets Division and West’s album with Ty Dolla Signal, Vultures 1.
Preserve scrolling for each reference Swift and West have made about their longstanding feud:
‘Harmless’
Swift’s 2010 fully self-written album, Communicate Now, featured a tune devoted to West. “Harmless,” which sits at monitor No. 11 on the file, was a surprisingly type perspective from Swift after the occasions on the VMAs.
Within the tune’s first verse, Swift admits West, who confronted backlash for his feedback, “actually did it this time,” pontificating that he let himself in his personal “warpath” and misplaced “stability on a tightrope.”
“Did some issues you possibly can’t converse of / However at evening you reside all of it once more,” she sings on the ballad. “You wouldn’t be shattered on the ground now / If solely you had seen what now then.”
Regardless of his errors, Swift’s refrain provides forgiveness — and even phrases of knowledge — for West within the refrain.
“It’s alright, simply wait and see / Your string of lights continues to be vivid to me / Oh, who you’re is just not the place you’ve been / You’re nonetheless an harmless,” she guarantees.
‘Well-known’
Extra like notorious, “Well-known,” off West’s 2016 album, The Lifetime of Pablo, was the tune that reignited the rivalry between him and Swift for years to return.
“I really feel like me and Taylor would possibly nonetheless have intercourse,” West says within the verse, which is the lyric Swift accepted, earlier than including the road that modified all the pieces: “Why? I made that bitch well-known.”
West later added gas to the hearth when he featured a lifelike bare wax determine of Swift within the tune’s music video.
‘This Is Why We Can’t Have Good Issues’
Any pleasant undertones in Swift’s music disappeared on her 2017 file Status, the place a number of songs have been devoted to revisiting her contentious dynamic with the rapper. In “This Is Why We Can’t Have Good Issues” — an upbeat bop that resembles children confronting one another on a playground — Swift breaks down how she gave West a “second probability” after the VMAs solely to be betrayed.
“However you stabbed me within the again whereas shakin’ my hand / And therein lies the difficulty, pals don’t attempt to trick you / Get you on the cellphone and mind-twist you,” she explains, seemingly referencing the notorious cellphone name between the duo. “And so I took an axe to a mended fence.”
“However I’m not the one pal you’ve misplaced these days,” she reminds him within the pre-chorus. “If solely you weren’t so shady.”
‘Look What You Made Me Do’
Swift’s first single from Status, which marked her comeback after avoiding the highlight for greater than a 12 months following the fallout with West and Kardashian, “Look What You Made Me Do,” was seemingly full of shade towards West.
“I don’t like your little video games / Don’t like your tilted stage,” Swift says as she opens the tune, showing to reference West’s well-known tilting stage throughout his Saint Pablo Tour. “The function you made me play of the idiot / No, I don’t such as you.”
Swift goes on to vaguely recall what went down between them. “I don’t like your good crime / The way you chuckle while you lie,” she says. In Kardashian’s footage of the cellphone name, West may very well be seen smiling and laughing throughout the dialog.
“However I obtained smarter, I obtained tougher within the nick of time / Honey, I rose up from the lifeless, I do it on a regular basis,” she sings within the refrain, saying her return to the music recreation. “I obtained an inventory of names, and yours is in pink, underlined . I examine it as soon as, then I examine it twice, oh!”
Within the refrain, Swift guarantees that whereas “the world strikes on, one other day one other drama,” all she thinks about is “karma.”
“Perhaps I obtained mine, however you’ll all get yours,” she warns.
‘I Did One thing Unhealthy’
In equity, Swift’s third monitor off Status may very well be about a number of males — West, her exes Calvin Harris and Tom Hiddleston, or others. Nonetheless, the lyrics do slot in with the opposite references to revenge made all through “LWYMMD” and “TIWWCHNT,” so it’s earned a spot on this listing.
“I can really feel the flames on my pores and skin Crimson pink paint on my lips If a person talks s—t, then I owe him nothing / I don’t remorse it one bit, ’trigger he had it coming,” she sings within the pre-chorus.
Swift as soon as once more seemingly references her 2016 “takedown” within the bridge, singing, “They’re burning all of the witches, even in the event you aren’t one / They obtained their pitchforks and proof / Their receipts and causes.”
‘I Forgot That You Existed’
Swift’s Lover period was a stark departure from that of Status, and the 2019 album traded darkish themes and snakes for pastels and butterflies (actually seen in her “Me!” music video). Swift opens the file, nevertheless, declaring that those that as soon as wronged her are not on her dangerous facet — she merely can’t be bothered to think about them in any respect.
“What number of days did I spent considering / ‘Bout how you probably did me fallacious, fallacious, fallacious? / Lived within the shade you have been throwing / ‘Til all of my sunshine was gone, gone, gone,” Swift croons within the upbeat first monitor, presumably referencing West. “And I couldn’t get away from you . In my emotions greater than Drake, so yeah / Your identify on my lips, tongue-tied / Free lease, residing in my thoughts.”
The hate consumed her, she explains, till she realized to let it go. “However then one thing occurred one magical evening / I forgot that you simply existed,” the refrain declares. “And I assumed that it could kill me, nevertheless it didn’t.”
‘thank You aimEe’
Swift seemingly laid in opposition to any heavy-handed metaphors or descriptions of her feud with West on Folklore, Evermore and Midnights — she had different fish to fry regarding her grasp dispute with Scooter Braun and Scott Borschettea. Issues modified together with her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Division.
The tune is definitely about West’s now ex-wife, Kardashian — descriptions like “a bronze spray-tanned statue” make that clear — with all of the letters within the title being lowercase aside from those that spell out “KIM.” Nonetheless, months after the file hit cabinets, Swift launched a reside model of the tune, altering the capital letters to spell out “YE” (the identify West now typically goes by) as a substitute.
Taylor Swift has not solely made headlines for her chart-topping music over time, but additionally her a number of high-profile celeb feuds. In January 2022, Swift obtained right into a social media argument with musician Damon Albarn after he claimed she shouldn’t name herself a songwriter if she isn’t the one inventive credited on a monitor. “I […]
“All that point you have been throwing punches / I used to be constructing one thing / And I can’t forgive the best way you made me really feel,” Swift sings within the refrain. “Screamed, ‘F—ok you, Aimee’ to the evening sky / Because the blood was gushing / However I can’t neglect the best way you made me heal.”
Swift recollects the feud not being a “honest combat” or a “clear kill” — Kardashian and West edited the video footage of their cellphone dialog earlier than releasing it — noting that “Aimee” could be “laughing at every child step I’d take.”
When Swift launched the bonus monitor, she successfully prevented West’s album Vultures 2 from reaching No. 1 on the charts.
‘Carnival’
West and Ty Dolla Signal launched the debut album for his or her ¥$ group, Vultures 1, in February 2024. The twelfth monitor on the file, which additionally options Playboi Carti and Wealthy The Child, sees West identify dropping Swift for the primary time since “Well-known.”
“Then she say she ain’t sucked my d—ok / She gon’ take it up the ass, like a ventriloquist / I imply since Taylor Swift, since I had the Rollie on the wrist I’m the brand new Jesus, bitch, I flip water to Cris’,” he raps.
‘Way of life (Demo)’
An monitor from Vultures 2, launched in August 2024, as soon as once more options West rapping about Swift — even paying attention to her boyfriend, Kansas Metropolis Chiefs tight finish Travis Kelce.
“I twist my Taylor spliffs tight on the finish like Travis Kelce,” he raps, presumably a play on his NFL place.
